Putti and bacchantes at the bottom of a tree
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 9 15/16 × 7 11/16 in. (25.3 × 19.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.95.850
Art Historical Context
Nestled at the base of a majestic tree, *Putti and Bacchantes* (1636–65) captures a whimsical moment from classical mythology through the etching mastery of Michel Dorigny and publisher Pierre Mariette. Dorigny, a French Baroque artist under Simon Vouet, collaborated on this print during the opulent era of Louis XIII and XIV, when intricate reproductive prints proliferated to disseminate grand designs across Europe. Etching, with its sharp, fluid lines etched into a metal plate and bitten by acid, allowed for the delicate rendering of playful cherubs (putti) and ecstatic followers of Bacchus (...
About the Artist
Pierre Mariette|Michel Dorigny (French|French) · 1606 |1596 –1670 |1657
French, Lyon 1606–1670 Paris|French, 1596–1657